With Riner Out, Who Earns Glory In Baku

As the world of Judo heads into the World Championships without Teddy Riner, who will walk out as the heavyweight champion?

While Guram Tushishvili may be a sentimental favorite for many, the top seeded Georgian Judoka faces a big problem in the first round against Daniel Natea, and with Ukranian Yakiv Khammo and Roy Meyer filling out the A bracket with Meyer being a presumptive favorite to move on.

In a field that includes former Olympian Rafael Silva, Or Sasson, Kim MinJong, Hiayosh Harasawa, amongst former number one David Moura, Yusei Ogawa, 2014 world champion Lukas Krpalek, and more, a consensus champion may be hard to find in Baku, but will create a ton of excitement and interest to see who comes out the other side with the gold.